The White-Haired Imperial Concubine

Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water (3)

Zongzheng Wuyou was stunned, she actually rejected him again! In order to stay by his side, other women could disregard having a status and even go to the extent of death yet she casually wrapped up everything they had as just a spring dream! A totally careless look on her face, and she even said that the ** was done with both parties willing participation so marriage was not necessary, Zongzheng Wuyou suddenly felt his emotions were thrown in turmoil. He frowned, hints of anger rising in his eyes as he reached a hand out to grab her chin. He didn’t like how her lofty and arrogant expression that seeme dto say that no one on this earth and nothing in this world was important enough to her. He narrowed his phoenix eyes and stared into hers, his gaze trying to penetrate her very soul as he spoke in a heavy voice, “Do you know that in this world…exactly how many women want to marry benwang?”

Man Yao was hurting from her chin being squeezed and she protested only to be met with his increased force as if he would only stop when he finished crushing her. She relented and let him be, how could this pain compare with the pain she was feeling in her heart? She smiled at him, her gaze firm and steady and her voice calm, “Your Highness Prince Li’s identity is noble and looks are peerless, naturally there are countless people who want to marry you, you can…just marry all of them, but…you will definitely not find me amongst those people.”

Zongzheng Wuyou’s expression darkened. If other people said this, they would just be throwing a tantrum, but for her to say these words, it made it seem as if these were her honest thoughts. The woman who cried just from being moved by his words last night could smile so indifferently after finding out that his feelings for her were not true today. He felt this smile was far too glaring. He stared at her for a while longer, unable to find anything else other than the disdain in her eyes and the sneer hanging off of her face. He didn’t believe that her heart would be as calm as her face. He suddenly reached out to wrap an arm around her waist, and when he grabbed it, he recalled the feelings it elicited in him last night, and he couldn’t help but react instinctively, forcefully pulling her in front of him, the two people tightly pressing against one another.

Man Yao’s face changed and unhesitatingly tried to push him away, speaking coldly, “What are you doing? Let go of me.”

Zongzheng Wuyou not only did not let go of her and instead used one of his hands to firmly keep her waist in position and his other hand caressed her pale face, his fingers playing with her fair earlobes as he gave a sinister smile, “I just wanted to make you remember what you felt last night…how about it? Do you remmeber now? You might be refusing to marry benwang right now, but last night…carrying the heart of wanting to marry benwang, you willing…offered your own body.”

Man Yao’s lips lost all their color. This man was too cruel, he couldn’t bear to see her well and wanted to dig deeper into her hidden wounds, drawing out blood, would he only cease after cruelly stepping on her? She used all of her strength to stop herself from trembling. Her heart was frozen like ice and she forced herself to laugh, “So what? In my world, when two strangers have a one night stand, they go their own separate ways the next morning, they don’t even remember if the other party was ugly or beautiful…this type of thing is not a big deal. Furthermore, I would never marry someone who uses me.”

Zongzheng Wuyou’s hands stilled. He believed the one night stand she mentioned, but he instinctively felt that she wasn’t someone so casual but was rather like his mother, treating the body as the most loyal expression of love. He didn’t try to dissect his reasoning behind why he wanted to marry her, could it really just be for her body? Zongzheng Wuyou suddenly let go of her, authoritatively commanding, “Benwang said it before, in this life, the only person you can marry is benwang! Whether you agree or not…is not up to you.”

Man Yao laughed, her laughter full of irony. This man was so arrogant and proud that he thought everyone in this world was within his control. But she will let him know that even though everything else in this world may heed to his wishes, but she Man Yao, whether it was her body or her heart, would never be controlled by him.

She raised her head to stare at Zongzheng Wuyou’s peerless face, coldly laughing before speaking, “I know Prince Li has enormous power, but not everything in this world will be within your control. There will always be a person that you…won’t be able to obtain even if you beg; there will always be something that even if you Zongzheng Wuyou gathered the clouds and turned them to rain(1)…you would still not change the outcome.”

Her voice was so firm, each word, each sentence, extremely resounding. Zongzheng Wuyou was stunned for a moment before he felt the winds fiercely picking up as if it was using all its strength to flip over the world. Man Yao used all her strength to say these words and didn’t want to stay any longer in this place, much less face this man who duped her feelings. She turned around and brushed against his shoulder. When her back was towards him, the tears she suppressed for so long fell down, the crystal tears sliding down that pale face, slipping through her lips, the salty taste landing on her tongue and going straight into her heart. She bit her lip, forcing back the sobs that threatened to break out and forced back her desires. She felt like she swallowed a steel blade, stabbing deeply into her heart.

She forced herself to smile and as she continued to walk, her steps were steady and unhesitating, not looking back.

The usually talkative Ninth Prince was abnormally quiet. He never thought that this peerlessly beautiful and intelligent woman who seemed to be indifferent and calm was actually so proud and stubborn. She was clearly hurt very badly but she forced herself to pretend that she was fine and unaffected. His heart ached at the sight of her. He opened his mouth and spoke mournfully, “Li Yue…” but that woman had already disappeared.

Zongzheng Wuyou quietly stood in his original spot, hearing those steps that were growing fainter and fainter, his heart seemed to have stopped beating but he still didn”t turn around. He didn’t know why his heart suddenly felt so empty. He believed that no matter where she went, she would never be able to escape him, but he never thought that when he let go, it would bring him a result that he couldn’t bear…

The gale grew stronger and the storm descended. The people on the streets rushed to find places to avoid the rain, their stepps hurried. The carriage drivers cracked their whips, and the horses broke out into a run hearing the sounds, mud splattering everywhere.

Man Yao dragged her heavy feet, slowly walking in the lane that was being washed by the storm. She began to hate her own clarity. The giant raindrops of the cold rain landed on her head and face, numbing her pain. Wearing a thin layer of clothing, she walked in the rain, not because she was trying to insult herself in the wake of heartbreak but because she was actually so selfish that whether it was her past life or her current life, she would never do something so stupid as to disgrace herself in order to take revenge on someone. She just…she just didn’t have anywhere to go. She couldn’t see much in this rainy fog, and to this world, she was just an orphaned soul from a different world. She had no home, no family, no warmth…

In the end, she…had nothing! Even this body wasn’t her own, and this heart…she laughed out of despair, the low and heavy laughter mixing in with the sounds of the thunderstorm sounding especially sorrowful and desolate.

She continued to walk aimlessly in this state for who knows how long. When she finally stopped, she found that she already reached Heavenly Lake.

On the lakeshore, the willow tree branches whipped around, smacking against the shores. The papers saying that Moonlight Tea Garden was shut down were no longer there on the big gates. She was stunned and then began to mock herself. He already achieved his purpose, what was the point of keeping her garden shut down? She suddenly lost the desire to draw any closer to the tea garden that was once the culmination of her dream. She couldn’t forget that it was in this tea garden that her accidental touch against that man resulted in her fate of being lied to and used.

Turning around, she walked alone on the roads without a destination in mind. Her entire body seemed to be hollow and she felt exhausted. When she really couldn’t walk anymore, she found a relatively hidden corner of a wall and leaned against the cold and hard bricks. She slowly squatted down, holding onto her knees, she just wanted to stay like this for a moment, just for…a moment. As she watched the raindrops landing on the ground, she murmured, “This rain is good.” The world was quiet.

When the rain stopped, she gathered her emotions and was about to stand up when a pair of black satin-embroidered shoes appeared in her view.

(1) The Chinese idiom is ‘翻手云覆手雨’ which literally translates to gathering clouds with the palm up and turning them to rain with the palm down. It’s used to describe someone very powerful or capable.